Ballymore Land South of the High Street
On 6th September Brentford Chamber submitted the following objection to the proposals for the Ballymore development: Land South of the High Street, Brentford. The main reference is 00607/BA/P2
On behalf of the Brentford Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and our Chamber Members, we would like to formally oppose the various applications for the Land South of the High Street.
Focusing on the business side of the proposed development we would make the following comments (some of which we have made also in the Hounslow Plan):
LB Hounslow and/or Ballymore need to establish a firm retail strategy to ensure a core mix of retail shops that will bring both other shops as well as encouraging footfall.
Brentford town centre will have to bring in new shoppers from both Brentford and surrounding areas in order to make it viable. Ealing and Hounslow are both being re-generated and Chiswick is already very successful. Brentford is going to have to work very hard in order to compete with these surrounding areas, for both retail and leisure purposes. Where will Brentford position itself in the market mix to make sure it offers something different to these surrounding destinations and who will ensure this happens?
The strategy should also include a 2-5 years rent free period in order to enable these businesses to become firmly established.
LBH and/or Ballymore needs to be far more pro-active in going after large retailers to see how their needs can be met in Brentford town centre to encourage them to move in.
We also risk simply having too much retail floor space with no detailed retail strategy. The balance within the development of retail, commercial, leisure and residential is wrong.
Equally there needs to be a maintenance strategy to support those retail outlets and businesses currently sited within the proposed development to enable them to temporarily relocate and to subsequently return to the new development. At the moment no attempt at this has been made and we risk firms simply moving elsewhere permanently which will lose us employment in Brentford.
Brentford needs a “town hall”, a community space where people can find out about current developments in Brentford, as well as providing community, historical and business services.
We would support the principal conclusion of the Grimsey Review (http://www.vanishinghighstreet.com) which states:
“Town centre/high street plans must encompass a complete community hub solution incorporating health, housing, education, arts, entertainment, business/office space, manufacturing and leisure, whilst developing day time, evening time and night time cultures where shops are just a part of the total plan.”
In terms of the actual plans we would make the following comments:
Insufficient detail has been paid to facilitating and enlarging bus stops to encourage greater footfall by public transport. The proposed changes are inadequate in both maintaining the free flow of traffic and the increased frequency of buses.
There also needs to be additional and larger central bicycle parks to encourage cyclists.
We firmly support the relocation of the Watermans Arts Centre into the centre of Brentford and wish this to be an explicit detailed part of the application with suitable floor space which it currently isn’t.
The density of the buildings is too high and breaks London Plan Guidelines. This results in a proposal that becomes unattractive and therefore not viable due to the lack of space, sunlight and privacy.
We similarly consider the height and massing to be excessive and the distance between the blocks too narrow, both in terms of residential privacy and for comfortable and pleasurable pedestrian access.
The architectural appearance of the blocks is far too bland and monolithic. It does not represent Brentford’s heritage or close links with the waterside and surrounding industries.
The residential does not have enough 3+bed flats for growing families and no special housing for the elderly. There could have been a number of live-work units as well as small workshops for small enterprises.
The ground floor frontages of retail spaces still need additional detailing and thought.
Brentford Chamber would love to see Brentford gain a central heart, a beautiful space that supports and develops economic growth, both for retail and commerce as well as for incoming residents. This application is not it and we would much prefer extra time to be taken to develop a sustainable town centre than to build the current proposal and face years of empty boarded up premises. We need and want a redevelopment that is going to work in the medium and longer term, securing a future for Brentford.